Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the filed of accessories for handheld smart electronic devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to an external lighting device that can be attached to a smart electronic device, such as a smartphone.
Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, cell phone and other smart electronic smart devices have gradually become daily necessities. Currently, most of the cell phones/smart devices in the market are equipped with cameras. More and more smart device users are taking photos or shooting videos using the cameras integrated in these smart devices. However, due to dimensional and/or structural limits for these devices to integrate camera accessories, the functionality of these cameras on the smart devices are still limited, especially in the aspect of lighting. Thus, the quality of photo or video shooting using smart device cameras is heavily dependent on the surroundings. More specifically, when the natural lighting in the surroundings is too bright or too dark, it becomes extremely difficult for smart device users to take high quality photos.
Some cell phones/smart devices are accessorized with a singular LED light to partially function as flash and compensate the natural lighting. However, these types of LED lights usually provide lighting of white color from one singular point on the cell phone/smart device, resulting in unevenly distributed lighting and non-adjustable color temperature for the photo or video shooting. Other users utilize hand held external light sources, such as a flashlight, to provide extra lighting for the camera on cell phones/smart devices when taking photos in a dark environment, but it is highly inconvenient to hold both a cell phone/smart device and an external light source.
Therefore, there is a recognized need in the art for an external light source that can attach to a cell phone/smart device, providing evenly distributed lighting with adjustable color temperature and brightness for the camera on the smart device. Particular, the prior art is deficient in devices comprising a light source that is attachable to a cell phone/smart device and providing evenly distributed and adjustable lighting. The present invention fulfills this longstanding need and desire in the art.